French government doubles voting rights in Orange

The French government has increased its direct voting rights in telecoms company Orange Group to 21.14% under the Florange Act, which awarded double voting rights to long-term shareholders from 2016, Les Echos reports. The government’s 13.44% direct equity stake in the operator remained the same. Public investment group Bpifrance Participations (formerly Fonds Strategique d’Investissement) had 9.60% of the equity (11.60% previously) and 8.35% of the voting rights, thus giving the government combined total holding of 23.04% of capital and 29.49% of voting rights. Group employees, meanwhile, held 5.08% of the capital. The remainder (69.87%) was in free float on the Euronext Paris market and on the New York Stock Exchange, with no other shareholder owning a 5%-plus stake.